Eastern Mirror Desk
Dimapur, Nov. 19:
• Over 1.5 crore voters for second phase
• Polling in 72 constituencies spreading 19 districts
• Over one lakh security personnel deployed
• 1,079 candidates to contest in second phase
• 46 candidates to fight in Raipur City South
• JCC, BSP and CPI form alliance
• Needs 46 seats for a simple majority
• Nine ministers from BJP in the fray
The second and final phase of Chhattisgarh assembly elections will be held from 8 am to 5 pm today in as many as 19,296 polling booths. A total of 72 constituencies spreading across 19 districts will go to the polls amid tight security after the high-voltage campaign concluded on Sunday evening.
The first phase of polling for 18 constituencies (Maoist-affected area) took place on November 12 with about 76.28 percent voter turnout being registered despite threats from Maoists to boycott the elections.
A total of 1,079 candidates (10 percent women) will fight for 72 seats out of which 46 belongs to general category, 17 reserved for Scheduled Tribes (STs) and nine for Scheduled Castes (SCs). While the incumbent Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and arch rival Congress will contest in all the constituencies, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) will field 66 candidates, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) - 25 and Janata Congress Chhattisgarh (JCC) – 46. The BJP won 34 seats and Congress won 15 in the 2013 elections.
The BJP, which has been in power in the state for the last 15 years, won 49 seats with a 41.04 percent vote share in the 90-member state assembly (excluding one seat nominated from the Anglo-Indian community) in 2013, while Congress won 39 seats with a 40.3 percent vote share. The BSP and Independent won one seat each.
A political party or alliance needs to 46 seats for a simple majority.
In a bid to retain the power in the state, the BJP has promised several sops, including making Chhattisgarh a Naxal-free state, setting up multi-speciality hospitals and film city, pension for marginal farmers, and interest-free loans to women entrepreneurs. However, the party has to fight the anti-incumbency wave.
The Congress has promised to loan waiver for farmers within 10 days of coming to power, disbursed paddy bonus for two years that Raman Singh’s government failed to give and come up with minimum support price for paddy.
Meanwhile, a formidable third front has cropped up with Ajit Jogi-led JCC, Mayawati-led BSP and Communist Party of India (CPI) forming an alliance to deny BJP and Congress from forming the government in the state.
Some of the prominent names contesting in the second phase include state Congress chief Bhupesh Baghel (Patan), state Opposition leader T.S. Singh Deo (Ambikapur), and Jogi (Marwahi). BJP has fielded nine ministers, including Dharamlal Kaushik (Bilha), Brijmohan Agrawal (Raipur City South), Rajesh Munat (Raipur City West), Amar Agrawal (Bilaspur), Prem Prakash Pandey (Bhilai Nagar), and Dayaldas Baghel (Nawagarh).
Counting of votes will be done on December 11, 2018.
